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a.
THE ARGU9, FBI DAY, DECEUBiH, 30, 1898.
DUEL OF GIANTS
Finish Fight Between Forty
Ton' Dinosaurs.
BATTLK OF MONSTERS AS LEARNED FROM FOSSILS. .7 " f
Fvi-'encps of a mighty battle which took
TUMee -,000,OOU years npro. li :ve jnt lwn
received at the American Muru-um of Nat
nral History in New York. .-- a t-orro
spondent (rum that city. It wns foucht
between two of tho higKost anim.-tls that
over lived, nnn a herbivorous dinosaur
(terrible liiiri!) about l0 feet lonir nnd
tall enouph to wmlo ncrosn the Hudson
river at rant's tumh without wetting his
head and tho other n llesh rating dinosaur
probably -T or uU feet long and weighing
'M or 4U ton.
The details of this battle are as clearly
known as if it had happened yenterdny.
and the Ijody of tho montrtrous victim lies
outstretched in Central park, for Dr.
WortPian, who has charge of the museum's
field work in palcontoioey, baa read tho
" ttory of the flRht in the skeleton which he
unearthed and brought to New York, a
j.art of a shipment of two whole carloads
of huge twines.
The light took place in what is now the
state of Wyoming, which wan then the
chore of a great inland sen which extend
ed in a northerly and stoutherly direction
through the center of the United states.
Here among the tropical grass and palm
thfM huge and terribla ani:uals lived and
waded, and hero thoeethnt atefletfii preyed
upon those that fed on vegetation, just as
the lev per animals do today. When the
huge dinosaur, the skeleton of which Dr.
Wrrtinan has found, was killed, it sank
dewn In the soft 007 e anil there, tho sea
receded, it fclowly petrified and lay. for
i'.fMiO.ooo year. And there it was un
earthed and photographed. AlonK it enor
mous tail bones Dr. Wortman bus found
deep ridges honing where its enemy's
c!aws struck down nnd stripped off the
ilesh. nnd some of the lower vertebra) are
entirely brokon off, giving some idea of
- the nwf cl violence of tho attack.
The ilesh eating dinosaur, which wan
something the shape of an enormous kan
garoo, must have crept up front behind
and taken its prey by surprise, as a tiger
falls on an ox, and by the fierceness of the
onslaught overcame an animal twice its
sizu. Inasmuch as there" Is no evidence of
tho bones having attempted to mend them
selves, the attack must have caused the
death of tho herbivorous animal.
Tho dinosaur, brontosaur, luorosaur,
dirhulocus and others of the same order
lived and dominated tiie earth during
what nro kcown as the Jurassic and the
l.ito Ti lassie ages. Some of them were
only as large as cur common rabbit; others
mu hed the great length of 70, 80 and 'JO
feet. Occasional fragmentary skeletons
have been found in Europe, Asia. Africa
nutl even Australia, but the greatest nuiu
lr and most perfect remains have been
found in the Americas. The Bad Lands of
the wet ere found in places literally to be
r.nderlald with the bones of dinosaur.
They aro of such curious shape and odd
formation that geolcgiitts are enabled by
mean of them to draw no uncertain pic
ture of the conditions which existed on
earth 1 ruing t he early ages. From the
treth they are enabled tn say just what
kind of fMid the animal lived on: from
the khai of the feet they can t.ifn the
kind cf ground he trod on; from another
foksil tbey ore enabled to state that the
animals had cannibalistic traits. The
complete skeleton of the new dinomur will
weitih prohabty SO.UoO pounds. Compare
such a monster with the skeleton of a
inatodon. which will weigh probably
S.OO0 pounds, and the mention of great
fct..'! girders to hold it in position will not
sertu aujt rUuous.
North A re erica was once divided by a
sea which reached from the golf of Mexico
to the Arctia ocean, Its eastern t-horw lay
along tho line where the Missouri river is
now. Its western shore was as far west aa
Utah. It was salt and had tides and cur
rent the same aa the Atlantic ocean. In
later ages the gradual elevation of the land
caused tfce elese of the northern and south
ern outlets of this sea, changing it Into a
lake, in which the water gradually got
fresh, and causing changes in the animal
forms on its banks. During miocene times
tiio lako reached from tho Dakotas to
lower Texas. Its eastern shoro extended
through South Dakota, Nebraska. Kansas.
Oklahoma and Texas, where the shoro line
made a great loop just north of the Rio
Grande and reached back again through
New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and
South Dakota. Cheyenne, Chadron, Sid
ney. Oberlln, Kearney, Wichita aud other
western cities are now situated on land
which once was under water. The White,
the Platte, the ?Jorth Platte, tho Arkan
sas, tho Canadian and other less signifl-
ca.bC fivers new How over tho raised bed
01 mis out tune sea.
In tho later ages it dried up on the
south, kind partof its northern edge over
flowed, getting finally into North Dakota
and taking in more of Wyoming. Laner
still it dried up entirely, and the ground
became elevated far above what it was.
But while it lasted it dominated tho char
acter of animal life in its vicinity. It was
quite tropical, and during lower miocene
times its banks fostered many animals
which now live around the equator, such
as Hamas, monkeys, tapirs, rhinoceroses,
largo peccaries and rodents. At another
period its banks harbored tho short limbed
rhinoceros, primitive mastodons, three
toed horses, smaM camels, wolves and ca
ber toothed tigers. Its aquatic animals
were numerous, for its benches were shal
low a long way out. In tho mass of fos
sils obtained from its shores were found
the bones of many spjeies of dinoFaurs, the
animal whose birdliko footprints had lieen
attracting attention in the east for years.
Darhclor. Willi Klrtltions Families.
Jersey City is shocked. It has been dis
covered in the school census that staid old
Iwhelors have from four to nine children
each. Worse still, the accused men deny
it, notwithstanding the record is against
them. But the record is a forgery. Chief
of Police Murphy declares that in three
wards over lC.ouo fraudulent names were
found on the lists. City Treasurer Sam
uel I). Dickinson, who is a bachelor, is
cnu of the many cited with having four
children attending school. Married men
who are childless have been abundantly
blessed with large and interesting fami
lies. Inquiry in many cases elicited tho
fact that no school census takers had made
a canvass this year, and Chief Murphy's
presumption is that the enumerators mere
ly took the names from the poll book and
directory and created a family for each
tuan resident without making an inquiry.
The census enumerators receive 5 cents
a name, and the more names they enter
the greater, of course, their compensation.
Tb Woman and -the Directory
"I have been amused many a time,"
said a clerk in a dreg store, "to note
the way women consult the directory.
Tbey never turn swiftly to a name like
a man, skipping down through the al
phabetical subc-laseification, but pore
over it by sections, as if it were a noreL
If a man doesn't find a name exactly
where it ought to be, he stops instantly
and walks oft, but a woman will exam
ine everything under that letter before
she gives up. Moreover, she is sure to
be reminded of ether people in the
course of the search and never fails to
look them up also.
"A lady came in one morning, sat
down and opened the book. She would
linger over one part for awhile and then
turn to another, keeping the places
with her fingers and bent apparently on
reading the whole thing. Meanwhile at
least half a dozen men collected tehind
her, all waiting impatiently to get a
chance at the volume. At last she turned
around and was startled to see the
crowd. 'Are you quite through, madaiul-'
asked one of the men. Uh, yes, she re
plied, 'I was just running through it to
tee who was there. It's an everyday
occurrence for women to come in to
wait for a car and get so interested in
the directory that tbey miss a dozen or
so. The book seems to have a weird fas
cination for the sex." New Orleans
Times Democrat.
A DaBEfr.u Man.
Here is a story illustrative of the
ignorance of the colonies that ouce pre
vailed in the colonial office and is not
yet entirely banished from Downing
street. As we all know, the late Lord
Carnarvon, when colonial secretary,
officially recorded bis opinion of Sir
Gorge Grey as "a dangerous man." Sir
Charles Gavan Duffy, cn one cf his
visits from Victoria, called upon Lord
Carnarvou in Downing street, and iu
conversation chanced to introduce a
reference to Sir George Grey.
"A very strange and comprehensible
character," said Lord Carnarvon, with
a shake cf the head. "I bear he has
now withdrawn to an island off the
coast of New Zealand and surrounded
himself with a number of wallabies."
"Oli, yes; I think that is not at all
improbable, " replied Sir Charles.
"Yon surprise me," rejoined Lord
Carnarvon. " What must be the state of
morality in a con u try wbero you make
light of such a proceeding?"
"Why, my lord, what do you sup
pose a wallaby to be?"
A hnlf caste female, of course. la
that not so?"
"Certainly not; a wallaby is simply
a small kangaroo." Loudon Chronicle.
Mntlstlcit of Marrlnfie.
The chances at birth that baby will
eventually marry are 9 in 20, or rather
less than cno-half. This result may seem
surprising, but it is largely accounted
for by the great mortality of persons un
der marriageable age, especially of in
fants np to the ago of 5. No fewer than
38 pr-r cent of babies die before they are
years old, aud 4 1 per cent of the
whole population before the age of 18.
In England, as iu this country, accord
ing to bclitf, the females outnumber tho
males.
Oct cf every 100 persons now living,
bu are single, as are married and o aro
widowed. So that on the average 1 per
son in every 20 you meet in the streets,
in the train, or wherever it may - be,
will be either a widow or a widower,
and 3 out of 5 will be unmarried. Iu
England an average husband and wife
on their wedding day may expect to live
together for 27 years, m France only 20,
in Holland and Belgium 23, but in Rus
sia 30. New York Home Journal.
The Hebrew Klajt.
One of the results of the Zionist con
gress at Basel is the reappearance of the
Hebrew flag. At the meeting place of
the delegates a nag was hoisted which
bad two blue stripes on a white field.
and between these the six pointed star.
or sign of David. It was explained at
that time that a similar flag was used
as the standard of the Hebrews in the
days of the Hebrew nation. Pictures
and descriptions of the flag came to the
United States with accounts of the pro
ceedings cf the congress, and dwellers
in the New York Ghetto began to look
for Hebrew flags. The consequence was
that the American l'lag company turn
ed out a quantity, for which there was
ready sale. New York Tribune.
niSKlnat For Flab.
The natives of Kottiar, iu Africa, are
in the habit of digging every year, in
the summer, the dry banks of the Ver
ge 1 river for fish, which they dig out by
hundreds, just as they would potatoes.
The mud lumps are broken open and
the fish, perhaps. 8 or 10 inches lung.
will always be found alive, and often
frisky, as if just removed from its sup
posedly native element the water. In
the dry beds of several African rivers a
similar practice, is often pursued. A
kind of mud fish buries itself while the
bottom is still moist, and remains there
all the summer, waking np when the
rams commence again.
De-a d e n e r .
"There Is never any really sound reason
for despondency, said Mr. Stoggleby,
"and the most substantial reason that we
tan discover for it Is likely to be the ut
terly unsubstantial one found In some
illght variation from a condition of per
fect health. It does not seem as though
Intelligent persons would mistake for true
despondency the mental depression caused
by a disordered stomach, but no doubt
we often do. The cure for this and Indeed
for practically every other form of de
spondency is to be found in good health.
"We can preserve our natural elation of
Fpirits always by keeping our physical
cdse. The whole secrvt. or so large a per
centage of it that the rest doesn t count.
lies there. To do this requires the steady
exercise of some measure of self control.
but that alone is worth more to a man
than a liberal education without it. It
give hlin moral as well as physical
strength, and with these two combined
man can set despondency at defiacoe. II
can laugh at every skinny specter that
stalks the earth." New York Sun.
Sandy's Criticisms.
A young Scotchman went to a Lon
don school of music, where be learned
to play the violoncello fairly welL '
On bis return to bis native village be
gathered his friends together to hear
his new instrument.
When he had played one or two
tunes, he looked np expectantly.
After a slight pause his bid grandfa
ther spoke.
"Eh, maun!" he said, "it's a maircy
there's na smell wi it!" Liverpool
Mercury.
Ilia Opportaaitr.
"I'd like something to eat," said the
ftazzled pilgrim at the kitchen door.
I'm that tired and hungry I don't
know which way to turn." "I'll show
you bow to do that," encouragingly re
plied Farmer Uaycraft, picking up a
dull ax and leading him in the direc
tion of the grindstone. Chicago Trib-une.
4
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